Tripp Halstead fighting potentially deadly infection

ATLANTA -- Tripp Halstead underwent emergency surgery Thursday night after suffering a potentially fatal setback onhis already long and rocky road to recovery. Now he isfacing a host of new problems.

"Yesterday was the worst of the last three months," said Halstead's mother Stacy."Just because he had survived, and he was making progress and we were going to take him home and now we don't know again."

Doctors rushed him into surgery to remove a shunt designed to drain fluid and relieve swelling on his brain."Even though the surgery of removing the shunt and pump was a success doesn't mean we are out of the woods," his mother Stacy posted on theHalsteads' Facebook page. Friday afternoon she said he was resting peacefully for the first time in several days.

"They do think that he'll pull through, it's just very dangerous as weak as he is so they don't know how long he'll be in the ICU," Stacy said.

Late Friday morning, Tripp's father Bill posted "Tripp has multiple levels of infection, he has (bacterial) meningitis and inflammation in his ventricles, he has infection in his blood so they are also saying he has sepsis. When the shunt and Baclofen pump were removed, a 'bacterial shower' occurred; this was expected. Basically all the bacteria that had attached itself to the pump and tubing released into his body. We are waiting word on his echocardiogram, but I don't think he will have any issues with his heart."

The family is asking for prayers and thanking everyone who has been praying all along. Nearly 200,000 people have been following Tripp's recoveryon Facebook. The family said it has helped them stay strong.

"It's just amazing how much people are following and we get posts every day of how much people love him and are praying for us and pulling for him and sharing thier own stories," Stacy said. "And literally I just sat there when I was at my worst [this week] and just read and read and read, and it made me better."